Ohio Police Fire Robocop for Helping Make Zero Arrests and Failing to Issue a Single Ticket Futurism
Ad listing for $7m Tokyo apartment with ‘invisible man’ goes viral Straits Times
‘Most famous tree in the world’: Sherwood Forest’s 1,000-year-old Major oak dies The Guardian
Climate/Environment
Breaking News!
y-axis alert!Nino 3.4 sea surface temperatures are now more than 3 standard deviations above the 1991-2020 mean, forcing an extension of the y-axis up to 3.5σ.
And that line way at the bottom? That’s 1988. pic.twitter.com/NwbOij2Gwk
— Prof. Eliot Jacobson (@EliotJacobson) June 17, 2026
Tropical Storm Arthur Forms Along the Texas Coast, Fuels Flood Threat Across the Deep South Eye on the Tropics
‘Sponge Cities’ Are Catching On. But Can They Handle Supercharged Storms? Inside Climate News
Want a deal on a heat pump? Team up with your neighbors. Grist
Apocalypse when? ‘Earth’s Black Box’ to be installed in remote Tasmanian airfield The Guardian
Pandemics
School Districts Are Struggling to Keep Up With Surging Special Education Needs Governing. “The pandemic significantly sped up the growth of the number of students with disabilities. In the five years after Covid shut down schools, 50 percent more local students were identified as needing services than in the five years prior.” Then proceed to blame it on eight months of remote learning, not…
Long COVID associated with SARS-CoV-2 reinfection among children and adolescents in the omicron era (RECOVER-EHR): a retrospective cohort study The Lancet
China?
China has a powerful new oil price weapon Bloomberg
West plays nice on AI in bid to shut out China Politico
As Wall Street Celebrates SpaceX IPO, Beijing Sharpens Its Focus on AI Investment Risks George Chen
India
US Drops ‘Indo’ From Military Command Name, Reversing Trump-Era Nod to India The Wire
Syraqistan
Lebanon: Israel radically expands use of unlawful mass ‘evacuation’ orders and commits war crime of unlawful transfer Amnesty International
In Campaign to Seize More of Gaza, Israel Expands Attacks on Palestinians Near “Yellow Line” Drop Site
‘His only crime is that he is a Palestinian doctor’ +972 Magazine
US using frozen Palestinian funds to push Israel’s ‘normalization’ agenda: Report Press TV
***
Text of the Iran-U.S. memorandum of understanding NBC News
Factbox: 14-point US-Iran MoU lays out terms to end imposed war, reshape regional security framework Press TV
Trump threatens ‘dropping bombs on their head’ if Iran doesn’t ‘behave’ Middle East Eye
Trump Admin Admits to Using Grok to Bomb Iran In Federal Lawsuit Backing Musk Truthout
NYT: Now that you’re approaching a new phase in this conflict in this Iran, can you now say whether you will hold anyone in your administration accountable for the strike on a school that killed more than 100 children?
TRUMP: No. It’s such a strange question to be asked. It’s a… pic.twitter.com/vh0plTlYKZ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 17, 2026
Africa
Egyptian drone strikes kill several at gold mine near Sudan border, miners say Sudan Tribune
Somaliland leader leaves door open to Israeli military base Somalia Today
Old Blighty
Barrister in Ukrainians’ ‘Starmer arson’ trial says huge amount was covered up Skwawkbox
Palestine Action co-founder vows to overturn proscription ban either in courts or “on the streets” The Canary
European Disunion
Bavarian top court rules state spy agency can monitor AfD DW
New Not-So-Cold War
Finland shreds nuclear weapons ban RT
Finland to buy US glide bombs for F-35s, ministry says Straits Times
Piracy in the English channel Ian Proud
European G7 members and the United States will produce long-range missiles “under license” in Ukraine. Le Parisien (machine translation)
🇧🇾🇺🇦🇷🇺 Belarusian children’s bus hit by AFU drone in Bryansk region.
Acting governor says the bus carried schoolchildren, a group of parents, and their coach when AFU forces struck it — treating it like a military target.
One of the dead is confirmed a Belarusian citizen.… https://t.co/Bm43O9GoKH
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) June 17, 2026
Ukraine’s defence minister predicts dozens of new companies will bring in thousands of foreigners to serve in Ukraine Ukrainska Pravda
EU Council Is Opening Communication Channels With Kremlin, Official Confirms Parliament Politics Magazine
Imperial Collapse Watch
Defense contractors would be barred from buying back their stock in bill approved by Senate panel CNBC
The Spirit of the Age Thomas Frank, Harper’s
JUST IN – Trump at the G7 summit in France, surrounded by world leaders: “I’m the boss.” pic.twitter.com/rM0Cu5RK5y
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) June 17, 2026
L’affaire Epstein
US House staff visit Ghislaine Maxwell’s prison after claims of laptop and puppy The Guardian
South of the Border
US Bombs Alleged Drug Boat in Eastern Pacific, Killing at Least One Antiwar
Cuba unveils major reforms amid escalating US economic siege Al Mayadeen
Trump 2.0
More Than 770,000 Children Are No Longer Receiving SNAP Benefits After Trump Changes Federal Food Program ProPublica. America: killing kids abroad, killing kids at home.
Senators Suspect Trump Shifted Secret Service Funds to Build His Ballroom NOTUS
Why Does Trump Want the Save America Act? The Answer Should Worry Us. Balkinization
The Uniparty
Khanna Becomes First in Congress to Sign ‘Peace Pledge’ Promising to Reject AIPAC Funds Common Dreams
Democrats Suck
Democratic socialists are on the rise in Trump-era mayoral races NBC News. Commentary:
It’s obviously a problem national Democrats need to wake up to, too. Urban districts are core to the national party. If DSA eats your lunch there, you’re in trouble.
— Jordan Weissmann (@JHWeissmann) June 17, 2026
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
The Bay Area is launching a drone war against garbage San Francisco Standard
The Accelerationists
Leak Exposes Members of Peter Thiel’s Secretive ‘Dialog’ Society Wired
US ‘nuclear bros’ test America’s atomic revival FT
Police State Watch
Minnesota Trade Unionists Among Those Targeted in Federal Indictments of ICE Observers Workday Magazine
As the Trump admin begins a new prosecution in Minnesota, the “Broadview Six” fallout continues Law Dork
How States May Utilize Domestic Terrorism Statutes to Prosecute Activists Civil Liberties Defense Center
ICE Appears to Be Buying Immigrants’ Tax Identifiers from a Data Broker 404 Media
The Supremes
The Supreme Court Will Decide Whether ICE Can Hold People Indefinitely. We Should All Be Worried. Slate
Economy
Housing starts sink to pandemic levels as builders worry about inflation Stateline
The Bezzle
Tesla Allegedly Showed Cooked Data to Get Full Self-Driving Approved Futurism
AI
The White House Wants Anthropic to Block All Jailbreaks. That May Not Be Possible Wired
OpenAI’s Stargate Data Centers Are Taking Longer and Costing More Than Its Competitors’ Distilled
Smartphone market to shrink 15 percent this year due to memory crisis The Register
Agentic AI Comes to Medicine Eric Topol
Generative AI Is Having Its Herbalife Moment What We Lost
Class Warfare
Musk and the AI Oligarchs Dump Risk On Us Ann Pettifor. “…Just as the next Global Financial Crisis looms.”
More Americans are hungry in the face of federal cuts, rising grocery prices Stateline
The Fixers of Lake Station Working Class Stories
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
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